Clariant continues to develop new technologies to improve the recyclability of plastics and provide packaging and product developers with more color options. Recent developments include darker and darker colors that require the use of carbon black pigments, as well as the inability of near-infrared (NIR) sensors used in automated polymer sorting systems at recycling centers to detect carbon black pigments. But with new color concepts developed at Clariant's Colororworks design and technology center near Milan, Italy, it is now possible to explore darker, more mysterious color spaces without using carbon black.  The development of polyester (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP) in both virgin and post-consumer recycled (PCR) form is ongoing. In most automated sorting systems, infrared light strikes the plastic material and the system can sort a variety of materials because different polymers reflect the light in different ways. Unfortunately, the carbo...